“Do your work. Not just
your work and no more, But
a little more for the lavishing
sake; that little more which
is worth all the rest. And
if you suffer as you must and you
doubt as you must, do your work.
Put your heart into it and the
sky will clear. And then out of your
very doubt and suffering will
be the supreme joy of life.
Believe it or not, in an age where
we’ve come to nearly deify leisure time,
we have virtually lost sight of the fact
that nearly all our satisfactions
and rewards will come, not from our
leisure, but from our work…”
-Dean Briggs
This quote by Dean Briggs has been on the wall of the barn for several years. Until we began to move the woodies all over the place, one of them lived directly in front of this quote. I (along with many others) have read this quote numerous times to distract myself from the pain of a 100 calorie run. The words have rung true to me EVERYTIME I have read them!
Work can take on so many forms. There is your job that is work, raising a family, maintaining relationships, coming to class or going on a long bike ride. This all requires putting your head down, investing the time, effort and doing it! I used to consider the idea of “work” as something unpleasant. But now some of my greatest joy, fun times and true pride comes from WORK!!
Last weekend was the perfect culmination of hard work and a true fulfilled. The Best Day Ever was JUST THAT. We had 250+ people walk through the barn doors with the intention of working hard and getting true joy from the experience. We had people there for 1 to 10 (way to GEAU Jilly and Lacey) classes. The work was hard, the sweat was abundant, but people left feeling tired, proud and fulfilled. We had 15+ local businesses sponsor the event. They hustled to be there to set up, prepared giveaways, came to classes and stayed most of the day. They worked HARD, totally over delivered, were exhausted at the end of the day, but each of them said they LOVED it! We had 30 kids that ran, lifted, rowed, and did gobs of other drills. They were red faced and a little sore the next morning, but the overall message was that the work was so fun!
Work is part of our days… for most- it is a bigger part than leisure. Bills have to be paid, kids have to eat, errands are a must. The more we can train our minds to find joy and satisfaction in the work we do, the happier we will be! Sometimes it is just requires a little shift in the way we think about our days. Enjoy and feel proud of the work you do…the hard stuff is truly the good stuff!